How to Host a Yoga Retreat, with John Quirk

0:00 Hey there, Before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this free resource. This podcast is one of the ways that we can do that. And the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

0:16 So if you go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever podcast platform you use, Scroll down until you find that star review and then give us some love. Thank you so much, and let's get started with this week's episode. And if you're starting out, you start small.

0:31 I started with small venues, 5 bedrooms, 6 bedrooms. You know, where you don't need to create this tremendous amount of overhead. I see that too, where people book these like extravagant places because they think the place is going to sell the retreat, right?

0:43 And it's like, no, they're buying you right. It's like there's like a holy tray. There's like a tripod. It's like the location matters, The food definitely matters. People will want to eat good food, but the third and most important part is the program.

0:57 It's you. It's what experience you're putting together for them. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga Podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you. We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour Yoga teacher training. Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way. Together with Paul Teoto and

1:25 Byron De Marseille, we put together this podcast to provide you with a free resource to learn more about yoga. Whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga and we're trying to talk from the teachers perspective and also the students perspective to make sure we get a full 360° angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world. Welcome to our OK, welcome back to the final episode with John Quirk.

1:53 Here we are going Pro Yoga Podcast Michael, your host, of course Michael Henry. And yeah, this is concluding our three-part series with John Quirk. If you haven't listened to the last two episodes from the last two weeks, definitely encourage you to do that if you're just stumbling across this one. But we're going to be talking about the process or the story of going from teaching yoga to running retreats and possibly more so the evolution of John's

2:21 story, which I'll just give you a little bit of a synopsis. But otherwise I'd suggest going back to listen to the other episodes to get the full synopsis. And that is just John Wert corporate in New York and basically left that job to to other things.

2:39 And then yoga was the choice for him. And then that evolved into him passionately working and teaching yoga for quite some time and then eventually evolving into what the conversation is going to be leading into today, which is retreats, right.

2:52 Running retreats and other passionate things that have developed for him and evolved for him. So I'm excited to continue this story because I'm learning so much as well. So welcome back, John. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that.

3:04 So it's good to have you again. And let's see. So last time we chatted, we were talking a lot about just the overall experience of teaching yoga and the things that you had to do. We talked a lot about work ethic and just like commitment and you know, putting in the time and the strategy and not just kind of like throwing it out there, but actually being like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to go for it type of thing. And then we kind of got to a

3:29 place where you got more or less burnt out or you felt like you were teaching too much. 20 hour, 20 classes a week was a bit much. And then you needed a vacation and then you had a an opportunity that was kind of scattered to go to Costa Rica. Yeah.

3:45 And host, I guess, retreat. Oh. Yeah, 100%. I just, I didn't know that that's what it was called at the time. So I was saying like, literally a One day a woman walked up to me and was like, tell me about your yoga retreat in Costa Rica.

3:59 And I was like, what the hell is a yoga retreat? And I'm like, I don't even know what that is. So yeah, it was literally divine intervention that spawned out of, yes, a burnout of teaching too much yoga, too much of a good thing, and then eventually deciding that I needed a break.

4:16 So it really kind of started there. And then I just started telling students, telling people that I was putting together this trip. It was going to have yoga and surfing, and we're getting a horseback riding. And there was a couple other, like, you know, things that I just looked up that we could do. And yeah, winged, it would be like an understatement, 'cause I didn't have if there was no Squarespace back then. I didn't have a website.

4:38 I was literally taking checks and cash from people, like they were handing me stacks of, you know, cash. And so, yeah, the the venue, when we got there, like half the rooms weren't even clean. Like, they were disorganized.

4:50 Like, we didn't know we were getting a raw vegan chef. So, like, we were eating raw vegan. And after three days, like, everybody had diarrhea. I almost thought I was going to the hospital, 'cause I got so sick one morning, I couldn't teach one of the classes.

5:02 Like one of them. My friends had to step in and teach it. So yeah, very trial by fire experience into running retreats. And you know, it's funny, like we have 20 people coming here next week for retreat in Bali. And I feel like I'm in such a better place, obviously, than that first retreat.

5:20 But now I have a lady helping me who's awesome. Lindsay, if you're listening to us, I love you. But yeah, it's it's so interesting how there's still so many, like, logistics and things that are moving, you know, and you're just like, OK, I like, hope this all goes, all goes well. But yeah, there's definitely more planning, and it's a little more meticulous, a little more intentional. Now, yeah.

5:39 Well, you didn't. You didn't really know you wanted to do that. You knew you you would like teaching yoga. You knew you like sharing yoga and that whole experience, and then this kind of, say fell on your doorstep, if you will. For sure.

5:50 I mean like my family did take some vacations when I was a kid, but it was like, you know, it was pretty typical like hotel, you know in Florida, I think we went to you know, Hawaii. But it was again, it was like a Marriott, you know.

6:02 So I'd never done any like serious like off the beaten path traveling or going to like, you know, semi third world countries and dealing with you know, unsafe food or you know, toilets that are basically holes in the ground.

6:14 You know, it's like a very different kind of experience that I frankly didn't know if I was gonna love. I just saw a kosher Riga, beautiful, warm, tropical, you know, like you see the brochure version of it and then you're like, Oh my God, like this is, you know, there's a lot of challenges and you have to wear a lot of hats now, right?

6:30 Because you're doing the travel agent part. You're doing logistics. You're, you know, having to put together rather than just an hour long yoga class. You're like, I have to think about what we're doing all day. Like, what are these people doing all day?

6:42 Yeah. They wake up and like, what do they? What are we doing? You know it's. It's like it's almost like a pre training. Yeah, I mean, it's it's so fun though because, you know, I've I've said to people before, it's like what I loved about yoga just became exponentially greater when I started doing retreats.

7:01 Because it was like, you got people in that class for an hour, hour and 15 hour and 30 minutes. And you could see the shift. You could see the change right where they would leave. And they're just like whole complexion was different. And they would tell you how great it was and they would smile and you might get feedback that they're they had the best night, you know, they had great sleep or they were more calm at work for that week or, you know,

7:22 whatever and then retreat to. It was just like, OK, it's that. But now it's like the trajectory is like way bigger. You know, where people come for four days, six days, seven days, and then they report back to, like, this changed my whole life. Like this changed my outlook.

7:37 This gave me perspective. This really was like an upgrade, you know, to the whole, the whole system. So that's what really got me in love with it was, you know, wanting to take transformation and just up the ante, like how big could we go with this? And then you know what's the ripple out effect if people come in and they're better moms, they're better sons, they're better bosses, they're better, you know, at whatever they're doing.

8:05 You know how do how do we, how do we make it something that's not just a standalone like few days, but we make it something that's really transformative. And I know that like, word kind of gets thrown around a lot in the retreat spaces.

8:16 But it's been my experience that if you give people a chance to step out of their day-to-day and you really give them a chance to just see themselves be themselves, you know, just and give them a little bit of Highness, give them a little bit of push, create a safe container for people, you know to kind of open up some deeper layers themselves.

8:36 You don't have to be the best at any kind of teaching. You don't even have to be the. You don't even have to do yoga. Like you could literally build retreats. I've had such cool experiences meeting people who build retreats just out of things they're passionate about.

8:48 You know, one of my favorite stories is I went to an entrepreneur event and this lady got up on stage and and she talked about how, you know, at her worst she was a single mom with two kids living in a one bedroom apartment.

8:59 And she had like a admin job doing spreadsheets all day. But she had a neurological problem where the doctor said, look, if you you can't sit at a computer anymore, like this is going to kill you. Like your brain is frying from sitting in a computer and but that was her only source of income. And so you know, talk about like a depressing situation. So she would go to the beach every day on her lunch break and she would walk down to La Jolla Cove and she would notice that there was, you know, like

9:23 dolphins that would pop up in this like kind of 1 little spot in the Cove. And it would happen pretty often. Like if she went down there seven days a week, it would or five days a week, it would happen like three or four times. So this was like back in the Craigslist days. So she posted an ad saying that she was running whale watching or dolphin watching tours in La Jolla and they were only like 10 bucks or 15 bucks.

9:44 So of course, at least some people are going to respond to that, right? So you know, started with like a handful of people and she would just take them down and she would say hey, like this is where they're going to pop up and you know here's you know how you get down there and all that kind of stuff. And then eventually she like you know, had 20 people and 30 people and then she started getting food and she started you know doing all.

10:02 And by the time she got up on the stage she was like a multi millionaire with like multiple yachts, you know, So she had just taken something that she was passionate and then first she didn't even need to spend money, right.

10:11 She was just walking people to the beach. You know, she was just sharing her joy with them, right? And so if you're wanting to get into the world of retreats, it doesn't have to be yoga. It doesn't have to be, you know, anything other than what you're really passionate about.

10:27 And then you just build beautiful, awesome experiences around it, you know? That's really cool. That's actually really inspiring. Cause yeah, kind of. I didn't really know what a retreat was. I've never been on like a an official retreat, really. You know, Paul hosts retreats.

10:45 I see my friends hosting retreats. Actually, I've been on like an acro yoga retreat. So maybe that's kind of what it is, but it doesn't feel like a retreat because I live in Bali and then it was in Bali, so I was like, retreat from what? So yeah, it's interesting to hear you say that because I just thought it was like, oh, you eat food, you practice yoga and you, you know, you do like a walking tour or something like that. But it doesn't.

11:06 It's not exactly that. It could be so many different things. It's really just like an experience. Yeah. And if you think about like, the word retreat, right, like a retreat, like in like a military sense, right is to withdraw from battle, right, but not to to quit, to gather supplies and and heal up and then to go back stronger, right.

11:27 So it's really a stepping away from what you're normally putting your time and energy into, which is typically, you know, job kids, you know, a lot of the stressors of life and just giving yourself a break from all that right to.

11:42 And so many people come to our retreats that have such different intentions. You know, it's so beautiful, like to heal physically or to heal emotionally or they're going through a job loss Or I keep telling many people like, you know, I tell my story and they're like, Oh my God, that's exactly what I'm going through. I just lost my job.

11:58 Like, a guy just came to my retreat recently. But we were supposed to talk on a Tuesday and the schedules didn't work out, so we had to postpone it to Wednesday. So by the time we talked Wednesday, he had just lost his job 30 minutes before we got on the phone.

12:11 So I was like, well, this is perfect, cuz let me tell you how I got into doing all this. You know what I mean? And he came and had he walked away from their treatments like, oh, this is perfect. He's like, this is exactly what I needed. He's like, if I sat at home and just stewed about this, he's like, it would have gotten nowhere. He's like, but to be able to extricate myself from that and that emotion and that feeling, to really be in a comfortable container with people who where

12:32 I'm safe and I I'm just focused on being a better version of myself, right? Is is everything. So yeah, I mean, it doesn't have to happen in an ashram, but it also doesn't have to happen, you know, in any particular place it. Doesn't have to happen in Bali or Costa Rica, 100%, yeah, it can just be a stay occasion or a stay retreat. Yeah, like Ramdas, I was just reading some stuff about him, like, you know, his end of life retreats were at just his house in Maui.

13:05 You know, he would have just people come out and like, he'd live there, you know? And he would even have individuals sometimes just come out one at a time and they would sleep in one room and he would, and they would, he would just, they would walk into his room and they would just sit and talk to him for a while, you know, So it didn't have any bells or whistles or special food or, you know, like.

13:24 Itinerary. Yeah, he was in a wheelchair. They weren't doing yoga. They were just rapping about life, you know, And that's what's so cool now is, I mean, it's become a big air quotes business, you know, retreats. But I think that's awesome. Like, I think there's so many things that can be healing or helpful for people, you know, like I went to retreat this year in Portugal.

13:45 It was like a Tantra retreat, which like totally is not my thing, you know, like this. Like, hey, like, let's massage each other and like, get naked. And I was like, I was so uncomfortable with this, but it was like, it was really cool for, like, some of these people. Like, they were so into it.

13:58 I mean, like, wasn't my jam, you know? I kind of wanted to try it, 'cause it did make me uncomfortable, you know? But I was like, this is just awesome that there's people in the world sharing and teaching and helping each other with things that have helped them, you know? Which I think is so much of what we've talked about in the last few episodes is like, can you find something that really brings you joy?

14:19 And it's helped bring you joy, and it's helped make you a better person. And then just become somewhat masterful in it so that you can share it with other people. So when people come to retreats, it's like I just lay out a buffet of things. I'm like, look, breathwork has really helped me. Like, meditation has really helped me. You know, being out in the sun really seems to help. You know, we go on these slow hikes, like the same way I walk my dog at home.

14:40 You know, we get in cold plunges. It's something I do just about every day. It's like I have one in my backyard, you know, and then I sprinkle in science. I teach people, hey, like this is what's happening in your nervous system.

14:49 This what's happening in your brain when you do these things. This is how it's going to help offset some of the other stresses. This is how it's going to teach you to actually be better, to be less reactionary under stress, Right. And coming from the background that I did, I was like, look, I'm a six foot white guy from New York. I'm not some like holier than now Indian or I'm not some like guru that like, you know, grew up in California with hippie parents.

15:10 I was like, my dad worked in a bank. My mom worked in the school. You know, like I'm very like traditional standard upbringing. I just had a voracious desire to to that There's more, you know, and I wanted to kind of pick at that and see like why do I not feel as good as I could feel And what's with the voice inside my head and what's all that about And you know, but it it now draws elements of science and but there's Buddhism and there's yoga and there's, you know, all

15:37 these. So I just take that and I put it all in a buffet and I'm like, hey, here's all the stuff that worked for me. Don't leave here and try to do it all, you know, don't leave here and try to be the be all and all all this stuff. Just can you extricate one or two things that potentially resonated with you while you're here and see how it fits, you know, into your life.

15:57 But the more you seek things like that out, like I go to two to three retreats every single year myself. Just like, you know, fill back up, fill the cup up, You know, get more knowledge, meet new people, you know, such a cool way to quote, UN quote vacation. Like, you could just go to Club Med and drink and hang out at the pool, you know what I mean?

16:16 But wouldn't you want to do something that, like, you come back with, like some skills and some knowledge and some, like, really intentional cool friends? Like, yeah, it's a totally different experience than just your standard Club Med, you know? Yeah.

16:32 Very interesting. Yeah, very interesting sense of community building and connection as well, I would feel. I mean, if you're doing it with other people, so see if they're coming in with similar intentions or similar places, which is the effect that they're going. Like I like the way you set up the podcast today, which is just like retreating from, not necessarily running away from, but just like recharging so that you can go back fresh, stronger, stronger.

16:57 Yeah. So that's a similarity it seems, or a commonality that the people would have to joining something like this, possibly not always, and therefore that in itself creates a sense of belonging amongst the group which creates like community, connection, which, which is AI would say a good foundation for people to grow or to to expand from is connection. If you're not feeling connected, it's hard to to expand. It's just really fertile soil, right? Like, it's we get so many

17:25 different types of intentions, right? And I've worked with, like business coaches and it's really funny because they get kind of pissed at me sometimes 'cause they're like let's build like a client avatar for you like, who's the ideal person for you to work with.

17:38 And I'm like, well, I was like I've had a 17 year old boy come on my retreat who had an amazing time. And I've had an 81 year old woman come on my retreat who had an amazing time. I was like, I've had lawyers and doctors, but I've had school teachers and stay at home moms.

17:52 I've had, you know, I've had a bajillion different types of people come to these retreats. And like you said, the one common thread is like, I want to feel better. I want to feel more at peace. I want to feel more love for life. I, you know, there's a common theme of, like, I just, I could be doing a little bit better.

18:10 And then of course, on the other side of the spectrum, some people have, you know, there's plenty of stuff to be stressed out about or worried about in the world. And anxiety and mental health is, you know, in a pretty interesting place. You know, So can we create an environment that's accommodating to a wide range of different types of needs, but then trust that if that's the goal, that the right people will show up and we'll be able to meet them

18:39 and serve them. And it's wild because in seven years of doing this, I can count maybe two people who didn't have, like, a highly exceptional experience. And that's an incredible, like, for the amount of people that I've worked with to only have two where I'm like, yeah, I don't think they had such a great time, but everybody else did. Like, that's a pretty high success rate. And like 80% of the people that leave when we asked them afterwards, like, did this

19:04 change your life? Say yes. It's like, I don't know, a lot of, like, talk therapy or like any kind of modalities where you're hitting those kinds of. And it's sustainable because they know how to make changes in their life without having to reach outside of themselves.

19:19 Like when I teach breathwork, I'm like, all you have to do is open your eyes in, in bed in the morning and just start this exercise. You have to go anywhere. You don't have to do anything. Like you just put on eye shades if you want and just go, you know, so it doesn't require some app or some special, you know, because the more layers of like what is needed for it is going to make it harder.

19:39 But everybody breathes. Everybody can go into silence, you know, everybody could find somewhat cold water. You know, everybody within reason can move their bodies and get out into the sun. I mean, if you live, you know, in a place where you don't have it.

19:53 But the point is is like we're not teaching anything that should be, you know, insanely difficult for people to access. And I think that's a lot of where the Wellness world is kind of struggling sometimes is the overcomplication of things that are just really meant to be quite simple.

20:12 Well, interestingly, before this podcast we were talking about how things need to be so boisterous and exaggerated and dramatic because of people's attention. It's hard to get now. I think we're relating this to I forgot, what was it movies or I forget exactly?

20:27 The TV shows, TV shows, Netflix and what gets greenlit versus nod, Yeah. What gets people's? Attention how it has to be kind of dumbed down and really sensational now. Right. So you know, with retreats or just like what some of these skills or tools are, whether it be breath, work, breathing, stillness, meditation, these such things are sure relatively simple. Not.

20:51 Necessarily. What do you need for yoga? Right? Like you need You don't even need a mat technically, right? You just literally need a flat space mean. Exactly. That's it. It's simple stuff. Yet it in a lot of situations or what I heard you say was it it's it's exaggerated into being this other thing to try to draw people in, which I get it. I mean, you know, we want to try to sell these things or we're trying to drop people in, yes.

21:16 But sometimes it kind of gets away from the actual essence of it. You know, if it's, if it's exaggerated to the point where it's no longer actually the thing that it is or it's no longer as simple as it once it was, which makes it less accessible unless take home and less transformative possibly. I mean, at least that's I could see. That I think you know I think like look like science and innovation is so cool.

21:40 I think there's you know we we're watches now that can give us all kinds of biofeedback. I have a friend Nicole who's in San Francisco developing wearable technology to teach people about brain and cart coherence and when they get out of coherence and why that is and how to get back to it and all this kind of stuff. And like I think some of that is so valuable and I think it's so cool.

22:01 But I think when we overcomplicate the issue of self discovery and we we make it so that you need a whole bunch of prerequisites to to get there. It's it's it's going to lose a lot of people, you know, I mean even retreats like we started doing digital stuff now recently I started doing coaching because I was like well maybe everybody can't take four days and fly to Southern California, you know. So it was like always in my brain of like, you know, how do I make it more accessible, how

22:37 to make it easier. And we've tried, like financially to make it as like, you know, I mean, it's less than like a hotel would be for, you know, four days, just a hotel, you know, I mean, we've tried to make it that way. But yeah, I think, I think part of the reason I love doing this, what we're doing right now is right, like the dissemination of an information where people can just go get it, you know, and then use it and let's stop creating barriers for people to

23:04 entry. Or you gotta dress a certain way or, you know, look a certain way or something like that, you know? Yeah. That's great. Yeah. It kind of makes me think about how we want yoga to be. No, we want yoga. Yoga is accessible to or should be accessible to everyone, right?

23:19 You don't need to be flexible and skinny and in shape and be able to bend over and touch your toes. It's like you just need to be able to be a human with a breath, which I'm pretty sure everyone has that unless you aren't alive anymore, then you don't have the breath.

23:35 Right, so they're enlightened anyway. Yeah, maybe you've already made it. So, so that means that yoga's for everybody, which means that you know a lot of these tools, a lot of these things are for everyone. So it's it's great to to make that known for people that they can access these things.

23:53 And often times they do need to retreat from or step away from something in order to be presented or learn about those things so that they can take those tools, take the the aspects of whether it be yoga or these types of things back with them. So not only do they get the recharge from the retreat or the the the replenishing from the time away, but they can also maybe say fruitfully or nourish themselves as they continue to quote UN quote, go back to

24:20 battle. Yeah, for sure. I I think, you know, you talked about the community element, which is such a big part of it, that collective consciousness, right? So a bunch of people getting together with a similar similar goal of feeling better, right.

24:33 So that right off the bat we are mostly energy, right? We're 99.99999% energy. So when you get a bunch of people with a collective goal, right, that's similar, whether it's to heal from a physical disease or it's to, you know, be more calm, be more presence. Like, we want to feel better, you know? And that setting, our heading for that, is so powerful and so important.

24:56 But there's also, you know, a real magic to stepping away from your normal. You know, the Jodaspenza talks a lot about the unknown, right? The infinite potential and the unknown. And I love looking at like the universe as a whole, right, where there's so much that we just don't know. We don't know how it got here.

25:17 We don't know how big it is. We like, you know, we used to think like it was like, we used to think it was 12 billion years old. And then recently we launched A telescope that like, you know, looked out into the universe.

25:27 It was like, well, it's at least double that. It's like 24 billion years old, you know? So it's like we just doubled the timetable. And it's probably even way more than that, right? And there's galaxies, and now we're getting UFOs and we're getting all this stuff. It's like, there's so much we don't know, you know, but potential exists in infinitum the same way that the universe is infinite, whereas you're known only has a finite amount of outcomes, right.

25:55 So look, you're an incredible example of like you're from Canada, you traveled, I loved your story about being in Mexico and kind of being right at the like, brink of like, you know, got to run it out of resources. And then you find your way to Bali. And you guys have, I mean, created this like amazing lives for yourself, right?

26:12 You and Christina. And it's like you had to step into so many unknowns, right? But trust that you're going to find your way, right? So now you have podcast and book and teacher training. You're like all this radical stuff that you're doing. But if you would just see it on the couch in Canada, you know, like, none of that would have been possible for you. So every great growth that I've ever experienced in my life came out of some level of uncomfortability. I mean, that's why we do the

26:40 cold punches. That's why we do pretty intense breathwork of the treats. It's like what exists in the unknown is infinite. What exists in your known, It just only got so many outcomes. You know, it's like, yeah, the traffic might be a little bit lighter today or, you know, maybe they have your favorite sandwich at the deli.

26:59 Or, you know, it's like there's only so many things that are going to be variable. And that's really what I think creates a lot of depression for people. It's like when they can start to predict everything that's going to start to happen to them. They just, they, they start shutting down, They start, they start losing that, that wonderment that we had like when we were kids, You know, like when you could look at like, you know, a toy and think it was

27:26 real or you could imagine yourself as an astronaut, that was your reality, like that you had this kind of same openness to the possibility of things. So I think as much as anything, yeah, the community aspect, the teaching, being in a place that welcomes that for sure. But also just I'm not on my timeline, I'm not on my calendar, I'm not picking up the kids at the same time. I'm not doing the things that I normally do. I'm not rehearsing the same

27:53 behaviors. I'm not practicing being the same person, right. I'm now giving myself the potential that I could be somebody completely different. And it's wild because when people come to retreats in four days, they turn to me and it's like almost universal across the board. They're like, I can't believe how close I feel to these people.

28:11 I can't believe how much I shared. I can't believe how me I was in these few days. Right. And I'm just like, yeah, all I did was tell you we were in a safe space and just open up the possibility for you to do that. But you make a decision to come stepping out of your day-to-day and now being in a new environment, sleeping in a different bed, eating different food, doing different things, I was like, that's what opened the door to that, right. So whether it's, you know, solo

28:43 trip to Bali or it's, you know, four days at your local, you know, yoga studios retreat that they're just doing at some Airbnb, like it's just good to get out of your normal, you know, Yeah. That's good. That's really helpful, 'cause it helps to simplify.

28:59 Just retreats in itself. It's it's not so much about. I mean, granted, I admitted that I didn't really know officially what a retreat was, but my vision of a retreat was you have to fly across the world somewhere for a week in a warm place, and you do a whole bunch of shit and you pay money to do that, right? And you have a good time and you come back. That's basically what I thought a retreat was. Which, you know, there's elements of that within what was said.

29:24 But it doesn't have to be that. It can be in so many different forms, right? It's kind of like when we say, like, teaching yoga doesn't have to be teaching awesome to practice. You can teach it in so many different ways. It can be the way that you communicate with your family, your friends.

29:35 It can be mindfulness, it can be meditation, so many things, philosophy, you know, coaching, whatever. So retreats themselves don't need to be this, or at least and what I envisioned a retreat to be, or at least what I thought a retreat to be doesn't need to be that.

29:50 So if you are someone who is thinking I do eventually want to lead retreats, maybe that is the vision or maybe it starts smaller than that. Maybe it's you allowing the people in your life who you see need a retreat away from their usual routine. Maybe it's a family member or friend who's just like at the at the wits end of their, you know, work or stress or whatever and you're just like let's let's take a weekend away two days, let's go to the country, let's

30:17 go do that. Like that's a retreat, right. And the experience and all that stuff that can be provided for them can help for them to restore. Maybe yoga's involved, maybe Yoga Hassan is involved. So that's inspiring for me to hear that cause it's like, oh cool, like a lot of people can do that retreats are not necessarily for one person to be able to have to 100.

30:34 Percent. And if you look at again like the, the business of it now, but the amount of demand that's out there for it, like almost anything under the sun that you could think of like there's like retreats for it now, right.

30:48 So whether it's specifically for men or for women or mixed or, I mean it can incorporate different foods, it can incorporate different activities singing, dancing, yoga. I mean like there's just so many things. Obviously there's you know, plant medicine retreats and that's really booming right now. And, you know, I've done my fair share. I've gone to a few ayahuasca retreats are really powerful, but also not my thing.

31:13 I just kind of realized through doing that it wasn't my thing anymore. And I was like, you know, that chapter is kind of kind of close. But I think, you know, to shift into like leading retreats, I think it's really important to kind of go back to the model we talked about of teaching yoga, right?

31:30 It's like that was for me, just the thing that I loved, and I wanted to do more of it. That's where it started. So teacher training was the natural progression. Then teaching classes was the goal, and then privates and, you know, all that kind of stuff. But now when I think about retreats, it's the same sort of thing where it's like, OK, I got into metaphysics and quantum mechanics and breathwork and you know, I've, I draw from all these different people.

31:53 Like people that you wouldn't think of. Like, yeah, there's spiritual teachers and there's Yogi's and all that, but like, I love like Joe Rogan. Like I love like, you know, Tony Robbins. Like there's little Nuggets of wisdom and all those things where now when I teach an amalgamation of all these different things, entrepreneurs, high level athletes, like you know, so my sort of formula right, is very uniquely mine, but it's all things that I just love and I'm super passionate

32:18 about have helped me in my life, right? So you know, if if skipping rope, I like the place that I do retreats. In Costa Rica, they have hula hooping retreats. People that just love to hula hoop go down there and they're hula in on the beach and they're hula in in the jungle and they're like, I mean, so niched, right. But I'm going there doing yoga, what you feel like is standard, you know, like breathwork, all that kind of stuff. And they also run ayahuasca

32:44 retreats at the same retreat centre. And then for a week people come in and they all bring their hoops and they're all hula hooping, right. So it's like it's like the lady with the with the dolphin watching. It's like if you just love something and want to share it with people, The logistics, the food, all that stuff you can build, you know, around the thing that you love. And ultimately like, people are gonna buy you, you know, they're gonna buy their connection to

33:07 you, whether that's you're teaching them classes or you're already, you know, in their circle, in their circle of trust, sort of somehow. And that's really the ultimate prerequisite. A lot of the the mistakes I see people making now is they are going heavy on like marketing to try to get their retreat out to, you know, people that they've never met. And there's no problem.

33:27 Like I've built a business that has a lot of first timers that people I never interacted with that just find me through the Internet and all the, you know, tips and tricks of website and advertising and all that. But ultimately like the Bolly retreat we're doing next week is mostly people that have met me before they've been on a retreat with me.

33:42 Like I've built a rapport with them, right. They find value in what it is that I do. So that's your going to be your lowest hanging fruit. You know, it's just go within your network, go within your circle. You know, even me like running retreats full, full time. You know, I'm, I'm looking to book 200 people a year, you know, 10 retreats that fit about 16 people and two international retreats that fill about 20 people, right. There's 200 people saying yes,

34:08 which is a lot in the retreat world. But if you think about in the scale of like marketing or selling on a whole, getting 200 people to buy your product or service is actually not that much, right? It's like, it's very doable, right?

34:21 And if you're starting out, you start small. I started with small venues, 5 bedrooms, 6 bedrooms. You know, where you don't need to create this tremendous amount of overhead. I see that too, where people book these like extravagant places because they think the place is going to sell the retreat, right?

34:35 And it's like, no, they're buying you, right? It's like there's like a holy train. There's like a tripod. It's like the location matters, the food definitely matters. People will want to eat good food, but the third and most important part is the program.

34:49 It's you. It's what experience you're putting together for them. Now, the food in the venue can definitely make the tripod fall over, right? If they're not at least solid, but they're not going to be the sole thing that props it up, right?

35:00 The the thing that really holds it all up and that people are buying the most is they're buying the program. They're buying you right? Which? Is the most unique thing 100% because location and food can be replicated anywhere, 100% for the most part.

35:13 I mean, when I started, like, I was running retreats out of a ranch that was like dilapidated and beat up in the middle of nowhere. And the only reason I knew about it is because my landlord at the time in San Diego had these two neighbors that were lawyers and had this property but didn't really use it. So I mean, talk about not being a retreat center like this place.

35:30 Like, they literally had guns on the wall when we got up there, we had to take down. They had these, like, stuffed snakes that we had to, like, hide and put away like it would leak when it would rain. Like, there was nothing about it that screamed like homely retreat center, you know?

35:43 But we put a round peg in a square hole because the vision of what the retreat was and then providing really good food helped prop up, you know, this place. And people still really had an amazing time. And then over time we've evolved and now we're in like a full retreat center that has all the bells and whistles and all that kind of stuff. But that obviously didn't happen overnight. And it wasn't built like Rome, you know, in a day. Like, it was built very much

36:08 methodically over time, figuring out what was important, what was my priority in like shopping for retreat centers. And like you said, the Uniquest part of it, right? It's still the program. It's still you. That's ultimately what they're what they're buying.

36:21 So if you're wanting to get in that space, let's stay really refine and figure out what that is, right? What is it that you're actually offering? And if it's not transformation, that's fine. If it's just a good time, if you want to, like, have a good time with people and like, maybe it's like not super spiritual.

36:36 Maybe you're having some wine while you're there. It's like, I see people doing that who are crushing it and people are having a really great time, you know, doing that. It's like, that doesn't have to be what you want to sell to people, right? Yeah, it could be wine, tour and food. People are crushing those.

36:52 Retreats. I could believe it. I don't know if they're really retreats, but yeah, they are. They are, you know. Yeah. I mean my my brain is spinning in different ways, which I'm just thinking about like what do I like or what have I liked or, you know, And I was just thinking like, oh, being a a a basketball player or someone who played basketball for most of my life. You know, I know the people who like basketball, fucking love basketball.

37:17 And if there was, you know, if I just said, like, oh, I'm going to do a basketball retreat, right? It's like, oh, we're going to go to this location, we're going to eat Greek food and we're going to learn a little bit more about, I don't know, whatever we're going to play.

37:28 Maybe we don't even learn. We're just going to play. We're just going to fun. Maybe it's like a little mini tournament or maybe it's not, whatever. Like, I could see that being interesting for some people. Then that's just like a random little idea, right?

37:39 And there could be so many different ways it could be dance. Like this is just a dance retreat. You can go and you can Just Dance if you want to or not dance or we're going to, you know, it could be like a trekking retreat.

37:48 It could be whatever's that walking. Retreat it could. Be look at Wim Hof Guy's got people. Coming to visit him to literally get into freezing cold water and go on shirtless treks of mountains, right? Like, who in their right mind would think that this? And it's like sold out months in advance, you know, 'cause it's like this guy just, he's so passionate about it and it made such a big impact on his life.

38:10 But at one point, I mean, Joe Dispenso always says it's like you're the you're kind of the kook before you're the Mystic, you know? And it's like, yeah, I mean, he just loved doing that so much. I mean, shoot, man, I basketball is international sport. You know, I mean I could totally see people wanting to run pick up games or if you even got like a pretty like decent level you know like guy facilitating some of the you know, like workshops or something, I could see that

38:38 there's a really well. Yeah, there's a market. 100% I don't think I'm going to do that, but. It was just a. It was just a. Thought. Now I'm waiting for you to announce, you know, basketball. I mean, it could. Happen. I just didn't have a knee surgery and my knees working pretty good.

38:51 But let's not let's not move into that space just yet. It's mostly about the retreats being about giving people an opportunity to recharge, to possibly transform or just have some fun. It's almost like just get away from life and then live a little bit, have some fun, eat some food, you know, hopefully sleep. You know some of the best feedback that I've. Gotten like, I had a mom come once and she had five kids. And I asked her the last day, and I knew she had a great time. But I was like, what was the

39:21 best part about this for you? And she's like, the third day when we were done with all the morning stuff and I laid on the couch and took a nap for like an hour and a half. And I was like, that's freaking awesome. Yeah. And now she meditates in her minivan in her garage at home. So she knows, like, to Createspace for herself, and this is the only place she could find peace and quiet. But she, like, prioritizes it that much, right. So I was like, I mean, that's so

39:45 cool. That's super cool, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. OK, so wow, I wasn't sure where we were going to go with the whole retreat thing. I thought it was going to be something different. Yeah, I feel like I could just talk about.

39:57 Retreats for so long. It's just, it's such a fun rabbit hole and it's just something I'm obviously so passionate about. And you know, like I said, I branched more into like doing some coaching and stuff now, but it's still the backbone of like, what I want to do and I could see myself being, you know. 70 years old and still wanting to bring people together in special ways.

40:17 You know, it's, I think it's a throwback too to like, you know, as as humans. I think when we come together in community, for sure it's a big thing. But when there's like a specialness, there's a reverence, there's a, you know, like a ceremonial kind of feel to it. I think whether it's placebo or real, it's a little bit of both. But you know, we just, we believe that what we're doing is is special.

40:45 You know, like we believe that why we're gathering is more than just like I used to run, you know, that first Costa Rica, I call it like a vacation with a little vinyasa thrown in. You know, that's kind of what it was in the beginning.

40:59 But I think it's such a cool way to create special moments, like really special, like transformative moments for people. And once I got a taste of that, I just, yeah, I just couldn't get enough. Now it's like, really it's yeah, it's just everything so.

41:27 My question is going to be what would be some just to kind of. I mean, this has been a very inspiring episode for me, but I'm also thinking, like, not so much for me, but for maybe someone listening. Like what would be some practical, like, steps, strategy, ideas, or ways in which I can start to move into the possibilities of retreats.

41:45 Does that bring anything for you? Yeah, for sure, I think. You know, for me, I did a lot of trial and error, you know, just like with the Ranch and then moving to different places, trying different strategies. I've spent over six figures on companies promising to do marketing and do custom websites and all the stuff and things that never really affected my bottom line but taught me a lot of lessons about maybe what not to do as importantly as what to

42:09 do, which we're always doing as humans, is figuring out what we want, what we don't want. But I would say to kind of help people learn from some of that is to really, again, like double down on what's bringing you joy, right.

42:21 So that you can create a program based around that and not necessarily, you know, what you think people are going to want. Then within the space of that, be open to finding mentors because for me, like I ran solo for too long.

42:41 Like, I definitely could have. We were talking about bridge builders before. And it's like you want to find the person who's one bridge ahead of you so that you can learn from them. But then the people that you're serving who are coming on your retreat are just one bridge behind you, right. So you want to create clarity on like what both of those are. And then once you've kind of figured out, you know what it is that you want to share and some, you know, ways that you can execute it and share it, then I

43:11 think a lot of what I see people doing is, is trying to do too much too fast, right. So not leaving themselves enough time to plan it. I think if you're a first time retreat leader, I think a minimum of 12 months is probably a good plan. You know, I think, you know, I see a lot of people six months or even as little as three months, so much pressure on yourself because you're going to have to put out deposits, you're going to have to spend money to

43:31 make money, right. So really, just giving yourself enough space that you can really test with your community, give them time to plan, give them time to to get ready. I think another thing too is like, just ask your community.

43:44 Like once you figure out what you love, right, and what you're teaching at people, which is of course now going to create the bridge to the people that you want to find. But like, just ask them, like, I think people are like afraid to like, well, I got to like create the retreat And then, you know, it's like Field of Dreams. If I build it, they will come.

44:00 It's like, well, but ask your people, like, would they want to fly to Costa Rica? Like, would they want to, you know, go for five days? Would they want to go to first seven days? Would they want to do a day retreat? Like, what do they want?

44:09 Right. So create the vision, ask for help and then check in with your community because you can get people cold traffic off the Internet. It's hard, You know, you can get those people. But really, you'd rather announce it to your already like excited community and then like have them like sign up for because it's just the best feeling.

44:29 And then you know who you're serving, why you're serving, and they know exactly what they're getting from you, which is really exciting. And then the last thing is, you know, really just to make sure that you're having fun.

44:40 Like really make sure that like what you're putting together right and how you're approaching it. Because your energy and what you put out there with it is going to inevitably affect, you know who comes. Like, I see people, you know, charging high ticket prices for retreats and all that kind of stuff and listen, bless them all power to them. But, you know, if you're like charging somebody like $10,000 for a treat, you might end up with people that are, you know, pretty picky and pretty

45:08 particular. And you know, and that's fine. Like if that's who you want to work with, like, again, all power to you, but just making sure that you're enjoying it and you're having fun, you know, you're not just shooting for the money. Cause I've been guilty of that.

45:20 Like I've been guilty of kind of at times just looking at the financial side of it and allowing it to influence some of my decision making and then being like I really didn't attract the people I want to do for that retreat.

45:32 Or I really need to like check myself and come back down to earth and really check in. And then lastly just give yourself permission to evolve. Like give yourself permission that like I am a 10 year yoga teacher who doesn't really practice Austin anymore. So it's really not an emphasis on our retreats. Whereas like that first Costa Rica retreat that was literally the main thing on the schedule.

45:52 People loved my vinyasa classes, so that's what they were coming to that retreat for in addition in Costa Rica. And now it's like it's one little hour on a schedule of quantum mechanics education and breathwork and cold plunge and hike and all these other things, right?

46:07 So just giving yourself permission that where you start may not be, you know, where you end up, 'cause as you become more evolved, right, as a teacher, as a spiritual practitioner or whatever it is, that's going to look a lot different, you know? Yeah, that's good those.

46:27 Are some good steps? Thanks. Or good thoughts? Anyway, filtering thoughts? Yeah, but now I want. Now I want to. Hear you talk about quantum mechanics, but. That'll require double carboard. Another episode. I can give you the Cliff notes version.

46:43 Basically. No, no, it's OK. We'll just leave it. We'll leave it open-ended or open loop, we call that. Yeah. Maybe we'll maybe we'll have you do another episode before you leave. Everything's energy, baby. It literally is. I mean we've we've had a few episodes where we've talked about energy, but I'd love to hear different perspectives and yeah, you're a great person to talk to you. So thank you.

47:04 I appreciate you very much. It's. Been a lot of fun. I'm yeah. I'm very humbled to we're doing this for Michael's house and it's yeah it's a dream come true because when we first met it was very clear that there was something more for us to do in this world together. And we had been talking about it and watching your evolution and watching you know you build a home here and going through your knee injury which I just found out before this episode that's been it's been three years man.

47:35 I just that's that's just so wild. But yeah, I'm just, I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy to know you. And even though we're, you know, 8000 miles away normally, I feel very close to you. So thank you for that. Thank you little.

47:47 Bromance for our audience, Yeah, we've been on a mandate. Today we've been yeah, yeah. We didn't have a lot of love. Today we'll we'll wrap up the episode but. John and I went to the gym this morning together. Then we went for brekkie this morning.

47:59 Then we hung out at home. Just little clothes shopping. You forgot the best. Part clothes shopping. That's right. On clothes shopping, we tried on clothes together. And if you know me, that's like, I don't do that. Yeah, I don't do that either.

48:11 I close a Target and now we're lying. Podcast and the day's not over. We're gonna go for dinner after this. Yeah, we're about to go eat something epic. Yeah, well, thank you, buddy. I really appreciate that. This has been a lot of fun.

48:22 Yeah, Same. Thank you for. For sharing everything that you've shared over the last few episodes. A lot of new stuff for me, A lot of inspiring stuff for me. Hopefully for our audience as well. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, maybe there's an. Opportunity to to do something else in the future. It's nice in person.

48:38 Yeah, it's nice in. Person. But thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you, guys. If you guys want to take any look at me or the stuff I do, it's really simple. So Socal Wellness retreats, Socal Wellness retreats.com. So all of our Southern Southern California stuff, you can come with us to Bali and then there's ways to work with me online as well. So would love to connect with anybody out there. And even if it's just for yoga teaching or retreat support, that's something I love to do

49:06 too. So if you're listening to this and you want a little support in that space stepping more into helping be a bridge builder and and those journeys too. So yeah, amazing. Thank you for that and we'll. Put that in the show notes. Thanks, buddy, for quick access.

49:21 Of course. Thank you to all of you for listening and tuning in the last few weeks. Assuming you did. And yeah, I think that's it. Yeah. Buddy, any final thoughts? No, just. Really. Yeah. If you're listening to this, I just, I want to share that you know, where I was to where I am right now. Like, if you had told me, I would be sitting in, like, a friend's house in Bali recording a podcast talking about yoga and quantum mechanics.

49:49 Like when I was sitting in a desk under fluorescent lights in New York City at 25 years old, I would have called you a fucking nut job, right? So I just want you to consider this your invitation to give yourself permission that, you know, your life can look so different if you really wanted to. And there's a lot of steps.

50:09 We talked about the effort that it takes. But yeah, you don't have to. You don't have to stay with things or with people that you don't love. And there's a there's a way to monetize it. There's a way to, but you'll have so much more fun too along the way. So that's your invite right there, listener, beautiful. Go live your best life.

50:28 Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you to all you and we'll speak to you next week. Thanks buddy. Take care, all right? Before you go, let me just tell you about the going proyoga.com platform. So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days, where you can actually learn more about yoga in the ways of alignment, queuing, sequencing, yoga, anatomy.

50:51 So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, practice and grow, this platform is definitely for you. So I definitely suggest checking it out. Going proyoga.com right now, you can try it out for free for seven days.